A history of money, from times before records began to the present day. The book tells the story of the development of money around the world in a series of chronologically- and geographically-organized spreads. The topics range from the civic coinage of Ancient Greece to the design of modern banknotes. These are complemented by theme-based spreads answering questions such as What is money for?, What are the largest and smallest coins ever made?, How have people tried to prevent forgery and What can historians learn from money?.